Saturday, July 12, 2003

A KINDRED SOUL

Discusses the problem with media reporting, and the need for us to keep it all in perspective.

There's an common saying in the journalistic community that goes "if it bleeds, it leads."

Nothing personifies this policy more than the daily reports from Iraq of violent acts perpetrated upon coalition forces by every conceivable sort of enemy combatant. It's not that I object to being informed of current events in the region, but what disturbs me is that these are virtually the only news stories we seem to be getting on a continuous basis from that country...

22 U.S. military personnel were killed in combat in Iraq between May 1, the day that President Bush declared an end to major hostilities in that country, and July 1.

That is an average of 11 combat fatalities per month.

We may well pray that none of our young soldiers will be killed at the hands of our enemies, but when one considers that 11 children are murdered by their parents every single day in the United States, that number doesn't seem so very daunting.

As for me - since hearing from COL Tucker that the media accounts are giving us only the bad side of the story, I have taken the approach of looking a little bit harder for the good stories, or at least recognizing the "bad news bias" in the press.

And I've been finding the good news stories.

But not with anything like the frequency of spying the bad-news bias.

Point: When I spoke with CPT Patti this morning, her voice sparkled, and her spirit lifted me up.

Compare that to the headlines in your newspaper, indeed if there are any there today on this subject.